Prep cross country notes: Marin Academy boys team looking to continue upward trend with Kinney and Reinhart leading the way

The California Interscholastic Federation has been staging the state cross country finals since 1987, but it wasn't until 2010 — with then-freshman James Kinney leading the way — that the Marin Academy High boys team qualified to compete in the meet.

Last year, the Wildcats squad took another step forward as a program when then-freshman Trevor Reinhart became the first Marin Academy runner to reach the medals stand, placing 10th individually in the Division V race. As coach Ken Ellingboe points out, Reinhart's time was the best among the 53 freshmen racers — across five divisions — in that state meet.

This year, with Kinney and Reinhart back as part of the Wildcats' pack, the Marin Academy boys are looking to continue that upward trend. And the early returns are promising, with Reinhart and Kinney helping Marin Academy finish third in the D-V field at the Stanford Invitational last month, up from MA's sixth-place finish at Stanford in 2011.

"My freshman year, the first year we made it to state, that was kind of a big stepping point for me," said Kinney, who as a junior is one of the Wildcats' two captains. "I wanted to continue that on, and when Trevor got there, obviously we had the perfect opportunity. We definitely talk about it; how we want to help the team to get better. Every year we kind of aim a little bit higher. When we see the possibilities, we aim a little higher."

Ellingboe said his top two runners are definitely inspiring the rest of the squad to push themselves.

"With these two guys coming into the program, they've kind of set the bar for everyone else," Ellingboe said. "Everyone sees their work ethic, their dedication, how they race, their grit and all that really inspires the boys program. Now the standard is: Let's make it to the state meet every year."

For the past two years, Marin Academy's trip to the state meet in Fresno has produced a 13th-place finish among D-V teams. This season, Reinhart and Kinney say they see the potential for even more as runners such as senior Jack Ferguson, juniors David Sutter and Evan Neal and freshmen Michael Dunne and Henry Fleming step forward.

Reinhart and Kinney, of course, also are looking for improvement from themselves. That wouldn't be too big a surprise given that neither really took running that seriously before they arrived at Marin Academy.

"I've always been active, I've always been into sports," said Reinhart, who credits a year spent in Paris in seventh grade for igniting his interest in running. "I realized my talent for running when I was kind of a young kid. But I really had no idea what to expect of myself (at Marin Academy). I had heard that our team had made state the year before so I was extremely jubilant about that.

"But my first race, I had no idea how fast I should run or who I should follow. But it all came together fairly quickly because of my teammate James. He was a real good leader and I just followed him and everything turned out well."

While Reinhart followed Kinney's lead figuratively, he wasn't always on his tail literally as Reinhart surpassed Kinney to become the Wildcats' No. 1 runner. But what could have been an awkward situation for the two has benefitted both runners.

"On one hand, I was like, 'This kid is beating me and I don't know how I feel about that,'" Kinney recalled. "Then on the other hand, I was like, 'OK, both of our times are going down by so much, this is great to have a training partner like that. "... It makes us both better, which is awesome."

"With James, we're really friendly competitors," Reinhart said. "We're extremely good friends, but I feel like it's a really healthy rivalry and it definitely will improve both of our times this year."

Both runners also realize that their success could be the foundation for a successful program for years to come.

"I definitely want to see the team keep on going and it seems like we are getting a lot more freshmen every year," Kinney said. "It definitely seems to be going well."